


immortal dog, bye tommy!

by dino_friends_personal_space



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self-Aware
Genre: Angst, G-man tries to kill sunkist that's why its explicit, also tommy dies so that's why its explicit, edit: replace explicit with mature i tagged it wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:49:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24971848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dino_friends_personal_space/pseuds/dino_friends_personal_space
Summary: Tommy wandered into the trap meant for Gordon. His hand was gone. And he didn't wake up.+ G-man visits his grave
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

G-man was quite surprised when his son called him over one day. Tommy ran over, his arms aloud and grinning. 

“Dad! Look, this, this is Sunkist! She’s immortal! I made an immortal dog!” Tommy said, holding up a golden retriever puppy. G-man smiled internally. Oh, Tommy was foolish, the dog could never be immortal but he decided to humor his son. 

“How, ever, did you do that, Thomas?” G-man said, reaching out towards the dog but then retracting his hand when the dog tried to lick him. 

“I, uh, shared some of my immortality with her. With Sunkist” Tommy said, holding the dog closer to his chest and looking at his father with big concerned eyes. The dog did the same. The smile in G-man’s eyes was replaced with urgency. He knew that transferring immortality was possible but he never thought Tommy would ever waste it on something as insignificant as a dog. He assumed Tommy was bluffing, lying. He had to be. No one would ever want to trade their immortality away. 

“Why, would you ever do that, Thomas?” G-man asked. He wasn’t angry at all, just confused, baffled. 

“It’s not like, like I didn’t think about it! I don’t want to see those I love die and then eventually everyone I know die” Tommy said, beginning to sway in nervousness. Sunkist began to whine slightly “I know, that’s not for a, a while but don’t be mad at me. I’m now 30, Dad. I wanted to grow old and stuff, like people do! I wanted to do this”

G-man wasn’t mad. If it made Tommy happy, it made him happy but that didn’t stop him from putting forth precautions. Despite Tommy being stronger and more resistant that most due to his relation to the G-man, Tommy was still vulnerable. Even more so with the lack of immortality. G-man frequently watched his son, making sure he was okay and alive. Black mesa was a dangerous place. G-man also put forth several defenses against certain situations such as fire resistance, fall damage, skull fractures, impact damage, drowning, radiation...the list went on. 

G-man thought he would never fail, until the day he did. 

It was a planned trap. Benrey, Bubby and the soldiers of the US military planned the ambush. On Gordon. Gordon and the group of scientists weren’t even at that location yet. Tommy had wandered on ahead, and sprung the trap upon himself. 

Tommy was scared. There was a sharp pain in his hand. He cried out for anyone but was muffled by the hands of another. He heard a couple of questioning words amongst the pain bubbling in his arm and the ambushers left him alone. The lights flickered on again and Tommy was there. 

Oh shit. 

Tommy's hand was gone. 

The scientist started hyperventilating. It hurt to breathe. He was still conscious, not sure if it was because the soldiers let him be or because he was stronger than them. But besides, he was in pain, bleeding out. After tying the sleeve of his lab coat around the bloody stump, Tommy wrapped his arm, the one with the hand still on it, around his abdomen and braced against the wall, using it to hoist himself upwards. Tommy started walking on. He needed to find the group. They would help, right? 

Time passed. The click of Tommy’s shoes eventually stopped. He had to stop. Oh god, he was so scared but he tried to calm himself down. He leaned against the wall and looked into the dark hallway, stretching on forever. Tommy felt his knees weaken and his head felt lightheaded. Tommy slid down the wall, resting in the murky water on the ground. 

He didn’t want to die alone. But honestly, he felt like some rest would be good. Hell, even if he did die, he didn’t mind. He had reasoned that when he gave up his immortality. But, he would have liked to die with his friends around him, not alone in a dark tunnel. He missed his friends and the thought of them being sad made Tommy decide he wasn’t going to die. He needed to keep up his strength but his eyes felt like they were controlled by gravity. Some rest would be good. 

But he wouldn’t wake up.


	2. Chapter 2

Tommy had been gone for a while. Gordon had thought that Tommy had gotten lost in the labyrinth of the facility called black mesa and reasoned that they should stay here until he got back. Benrey couldn’t sit still though. They were worried about Tommy, and they decided to go off despite Gordon’s protests. Maybe, Benrey would be able to clear their head with the little walk.

They wandered to the room with the Gordon trap. To make sure they weren’t ambushed, Benrey delivered a secret knock on the side of the wall. No response. Benrey tried again. Nothing. Benrey took a deep breath and took out their gun, heading in. No ambush. Benrey was confused until he saw the blood on the ground. 

Oh, shit. 

Benrey scraped off some of the blood and tasted it, still in denial to who it would belong to. Tommy couldn’t have gone far, right? Benrey looked for a trail of blood, finding a small one with only a small amount of drops. They ran off in the direction, approaching a dark tunnel with a slumped over figure. It wouldn’t be, it couldn’t be. 

Benrey ran over and turned the body towards them. It was their bro, all right. Tommy looked so peaceful. Benrey collapsed and cradled Tommy in his arms, hands shaking.   
“Tommy, tommy, bro, stop playing around” Benrey said. No, not said: cried; whimpered; whined; begged. They choked back a sob. “Tommy, wake up bro, respawn” 

No response. Benrey started shaking harder. 

“Tommy! Tommy! Tommy-” Benrey couldn’t stop screaming his name. “Wake up please! We, we, you promised, we were gonna play playstation together. You can’t not leave me, you, you have to. I need you, Tommy!” 

Benrey tried to fix him using their black mesa sweet voice. No response, nothing. Benrey tried to think back to their first-aid training. No pulse? No breathing? That was definitely a code black. Fuck, that didn’t help. He decided to try to do First Aid, like it is always done in the movies.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! 

Benrey was helpless. He grasped Tommy’s hand. 

Cold. 

The ray of sunshine in his life was now so, so cold. 

Benrey broke down, sobbing, screaming, cursing the damn facility, cursing themselves. Benrey wasn’t there for Tommy. They weren’t there for Tommy when it really counted. What a shitty friend. 

The screaming brought the science team to him. Gordon practically shoved Benrey away from Tommy and started looking to what happened. Dr. Coomer approached Tommy as well and after some frantic searching for any sign of life, shook his head. Bubby gasped, and looked away from the horrid scene, trying not to vomit. Tommy’s hand was missing. Usually he wasn’t bothered by such an injury but he knew WHY and WHAT caused it. 

It was Gordon’s turn for screaming. 

“What the FUCK did you do BENREY?” Gordon yelled, lunging at Benrey. Dr. Coomer held Gordon back.   
“Huh, what?”  
“You fucker. You did this didn’t you? You fucking killed Tommy”   
“What? N-no, Tommy’s my friend, MY friend. I don’t hurt him, or friends”   
“Then why don’t you use your stupid voice or something to FUCKING HELP?” Gordon’s voice cracked, in a sob.   
“You think I didn’t fucking use that? Stupid ass! Of course I did, I’m not a, a fucking brainless” 

Gordon stopped his attack and stepped back, still glaring at Benrey. Until it hit him. This was HIS fault. He had let Tommy wander off and failed to protect him. Gordon started to shake. This wasn’t real, right? This had to be a fucked up kinda dream, right? Maybe he was still asleep? Amidst the panic and graveness, Gordon failed to notice the shadow of a man behind him. G-man. Unlike the prior time, the world didn’t turn gray and nothing froze. Gordon tried to speak but the G-man ignored him. 

The injuries weren’t too serious. G-man then proceeded to hold his hands out which promptly started glowing yellow and green. Tommy was surrounded by these colors too. 

They waited. 

Tommy didn’t wake up. 

A wave of panic broke out upon G-man’s calm and collected face. He reached down towards his son and tried again, placing his hand on the corpse. 

No. 

No, no, no, no, no, no. 

Tommy, his boy, his son, wasn’t not coming back. 

“You, Mr. Freeman. You failed. To protect. My son” G-man said, looking over his shoulder towards the coward. However, G-man knew in his heart, this was all his fault. 

“Is-isn’t there anything I can do? Tommy can’t be dead-” Gordon said, reaching towards Tommy. G-man twisted Gordon’s arm behind his back and slammed Gordon face first into the wall, brushing off his suit in disgust. 

Sure, there was one thing he could do. 

G-man knelt down, not even paying attention to the murky water of the large pipe they were in. He pressed his forehead against Tommy’s and focused. Maybe, he could transfer his immortality to Tommy. Sure, it’d break the game but, honestly, G-man wouldn’t even continue the game without his son. Tommy still didn’t stir. G-man felt the tears build up and he looked at his son’s sleeping face. He couldn’t even protect him. 

G-man turned to Benrey.

“I understand. You have the power to, to manipulate the files” G-man said, his voice slightly quavering. Benrey nodded. “Bring, bring him back please” 

Benrey clipped into the wall. Tommy started glitching, changing into a t-pose before finally standing upright. Everyone held their breath as if any sudden movement would cause Tommy to disintegrate.

Tommy spoke. 

But it wasn’t him. 

The voice was robotic and sounded like an audio clip from the 90s. Tommy simply said “Good morning, Gordon.” Benrey popped out from the wall and ran up to Tommy, hugging him. The scientist didn’t have any reaction to the environment, only Gordon. 

The scientist-- not Tommy anymore -- wasn’t aware. 

“Tommy..?” Gordon said, breathlessly. 

“Thank god, you’re here!” 

Gordon couldn’t break his eyes away from Tommy, er, the scientist. He was back, right? He felt a hand on his shoulder, turning him away. Dr. Coomer put his hands on Gordon’s shoulders. 

“He’s--Tommy’s alright, isn’t he?” Gordon stammered, looking at Dr. Coomer. 

“No, Gordon” Dr. Coomer said, sadly. “He’s not aware, anymore” 

“But, can’t we fix him?” 

“No” Dr. Coomer said, choking back a sob. Gordon buried his face in his hands as Dr. Coomer pulled him into a hug. G-man looked at Dr. Coomer. Dr. Coomer nodded. 

“Wait, wait, we, can’t we reteach Tommy? Just memories, right? We can’t just, fuckin’ kill him again” Benrey said, stumbling over their words. “I, I can’t lose my, my Tommy” 

“No. Didn’t you fucking listen, asshole?” Bubby piped up, coming back from wherever he slunk away to. “He was reset or some shit. Don’t think too hard about it, it’s not your strong suit” 

“It can’t feel pain” Dr. Coomer said to Benrey, feeling guilty. “They never will”   
G-man looked at the scientist that was once Tommy, once his son. No glimmer in his eye, no smile, just dead, staring past G-man and to Gordon. Completely calm and cold. Benrey turned the true to false and the scientist ragdolled to the ground. 

The pizza turned cold. They wouldn’t have eaten it without him anyways.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning this is the chapter where G-man tries to kill sunkist

Once on the surface, they held the funeral. It was on a small grassy plain, still inside the black mesa facility so buildings were seen in the distance but it was nice. G-man sat next to the grave for a while, remaining there after the funeral. He heard the ground crunch beneath someone’s footsteps. 

Oh god, he hated the dog. 

Sunkist walked up, a soda in her mouth. Earlier, Sunkist had tried to dig up the body but there was a sheet of metal bolted into the ground so nothing would disturb the grave. Sunkist placed the soda on the grave. For Tommy. 

“You’re the cause for this” G-man growled at the dog. “You’re the reason he still isn’t here” 

The dog glared at G-man, sitting down next to the grave. 

“Tommy-” The name lodged itself in G-man's throat. He tried again “Tommy gave you immortality” 

The dog seemed to scoff and looked off into the distance. G-man was getting ticked off. He’d much rather have his son not a stupid dog. Why did he even allow his son to do something so stupid? He just couldn’t see him sad. But, it really did leave him dead. 

If only there wasn’t the dog. 

The dog looked knowingly at G-man. G-man reached for Sunkist and wrapped his hands around the dog’s throat, squeezing hard. The dog whimpered and whined, trying to bite and scratch at G-man. That’s right, suffocate the dog. He stood up, the dog’s front legs now hopelessly kicking in the air.

If the dog died, maybe Tommy would be back. 

But it didn’t. It never would. 

G-man made contact at the dog. At Tommy’s dog. It was the only thing he had left of his boy. G-man loosened his grasp and dropped his arms to his side. The dog bit the man and left. He collapsed and started to sob. 

He was an idiot. An emotional idiot. 

The dog came back and dropped a soda in front of G-man. G-man picked it up and looked at it. Tommy’s favorite. The dog nudged it towards him. G-man opened it and tasted it. 

The memory of when G-man first gave Tommy soda flooded back. Tommy asked what G-man’s favorite soda was. G-man randomly chose one because he never had soda before. Tommy said his favorite soda was whatever G-man’s soda was because G-man was always right. Tommy often offered him soda after that. He leaned forwards and hugged the dog, sobbing into its golden fur--Tommy’s favorite color. 

Maybe the dog wasn’t so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Afterwards, G-man left, often leaving flowers for his son. 
> 
> Gordon visited.  
> Benrey visited.  
> Bubby and Dr. Coomer visited.
> 
> The dog was there to greet them all.

**Author's Note:**

> Someone write an au where Darnold finds Tommy if you're sad bro


End file.
